WOP (Weekend of Poker) 2005

Well, I was sick on Friday, ruining my plans of going to the city for Karen's roomate's birthday party. They even got a Hummer Limo and everything. Saturday, Karen came out early on the train and we headed to Ditty's for a 12pm tournament, specially added for the SPT Season 2. Still not feeling very well, I pulled the usual "alternate" table. I've only started at the actual table once this whole season. Kudos to Tieds though for bringing his card table though, it was better than usual.

My opening table went something like this. Me, Lehman, Artem, Bob, Simpson, Moneymaker, Tieds, and Rich. I had to say I was pleased with my spot, and the table overall. Actually, whoever sat in my seat was going to get my cards, so I guess I just got lucky. Here's how the first 2 levels went.

I put alot of pressure on other people with good hands and didn't bluff once. I was hoping people would think I was at some points, but my hands were too good to bluff. For instance, I had built up some chips when the blinds were 25/50 and CK raised UTG to 200. I decided to take a flop with 33. Bob also called. I didn't care who was in the pot when the flop came QJ3 with 2 spades. CK bet out 300, and I raised to 700. Bob folded and CK called. Turn came another spade, and CK checked, and I wasn't sure what to do. CK is definitly capable of pulling a check raise bluff here, but I figured I had to bet something here to see if I could win it here, or if he really had a big hand. Now how much could I bet? He had about 2K left, so I bet 600. He called. The river brought a red 10 and he fired out 700 real quickly. I couldn't raise him without the best hand cause now a straight was out, and the flush was out there too. So I called and showed my set, and he mucked, but told me later he had AQ, which is the only thing he could've had if he was in the hand that long.

A few hands later I picked up KQ in middle position and called a raise from Bob with Rich also calling. Flop came AJx. We checked to Bob who bet 200 and Rich called. I called because it was not heads up and IF I hit a 10, I would get alot of action I'm sure. Also, I was using my big stack effectively here and I wanted to represent a strong hand. The turn came the perfect 10c and now Rich bet out 400 into me. Again, how much could I raise where he'll still call? Rich is a notoriously tight player so I had to be smart about this. I raised to 900 and Bob folded and Rich called, albeit reluctantly. The river came a Q so I felt like we might chop it up, but Rich checked and I bet 1K. He folded and Tieds said "you couldnt' have had KQ, how could you call the flop?" So, I advertised that hand.

Karen went out in the next few minutes. She hit her flush card on the river which also gave DGlove his full house. Tough times when those things happen. I applaud her efforts and she gets an A+ in my book just for showing up, only having played a few times prior.

Around now I had about 8K or so in chips, more than doubling up from our 3K start. I was UTG, blinds 25/50 still and Lehman opens HUGE for 500 after I fold. Everyone folds to him and he collects 75.

NEXT hand. I'm in BB and Lehman opens again for 400. Not having looked at my cards yet, I said that I can't play this hand for that much unless i have Aces. When it was my turn, as fate would have it, I had AA and raised it to 900. Lehman just called, leaving himself with 600, which I bet on the flop of I Don't Remember. Lehman called and was out and I added some more chips to my stack which was the biggest of the tournament at this point, hovering around 10K.

I limped into a 4 way unraised pot on button with 7c8c and got a flop of 776. Bob, who was in the BB, bet out 200 and I raised to 500, he called. A K came on the turn, and this time he checked, and I bet 600. He called again, and now I expected a huge bet on the river with a better hand than I had. The river brought a J and he checked. I should've bet here, this was my mistake, but I didnt' think he would call anything I bet so I announced trip 7's and he mucked. I wonder what he had.

One of the last hands before the final table, after Rich was taken from our table to even up the other one, Tieds was now directly to my right. Blinds were 75/150 I think, and he raised on the button to 450. I find 66 in the SB and decide that I likely have the best hand so I'll re raise, which I do to 1175. Tieds called and we saw a flop of K87 with 2 clubs. We both checked the flop and it was now that I put him on AJ or AQ, wasn't sure which one yet. A blank came on the turn and I bet 1600. After much deliberation he folded and I showed him that I did have a pair, we're friends and I didn't want him to think I was being a jerk with my big stack, and that I was actually playing back at him with the best hand. We broke for the final table and I had a commanding chip lead with about 15000 of the 51000 starting chips.

Going into the final table I wanted to avoid situations with marginal hands. In middle position and with blinds at 100/200, I raised to 650. DGlove, directly to my left, calls, and Jack after watching Celebrity Poker during the break, said that the TV told him that when he felt like he had to, to go all in. So he did just that for about 2400 or so. I called and DGlove folded. He showed A9, I showed AK. Flop came 10 high and Dennis said he folded pocket 10's. Whew. Turn A....good...river 9.....bad....So, I double Jack up on the first hand of the final table.

I stay kinda quiet for a little while and eventually get some hands here and there that are all won preflop. Then, the action limps around to me in the SB where I have A9s. Simpson on the button had just called as had 4 others. I raised to 650 again and it folded to Simpson, and after thinking he pushed all in. Based on what he had been doing earlier in the day I put myself on the best hand, and called very quickly. He had Q3o I believe. Flop came 345 of spades. YES I flopped the nuts. Turn comes a 7s. Hmmm...Simpson on a 1 outer to just chop the pot, yes we get the miracle 6s on the river to have a straight flush on the board. I've never seen that happen before.

Myra and I got into an interesting 2 hands in a row. First one she was in the BB and saw a free flop of 9 6 4. I had A6d and she bet and I called. She went all in on a turn of a blank and I thought about it, and for some reason called. She had 9 3 for top pair, and I got no help and doubling her up. The very next hand, I get 88 and bump it up to 700. She thinks about it and goes all in again! Ugh...now what to do...yeah yeah, fold sounds good. But I put her on AK for some reason and decided to "race" for my chips back that I had just given her. Well, she flipped over QQ and I was in a world of hurt. I got no help and just like that I had lost 12K of my chips in just a few hands by doubling people up, and Myra back to back!

It was at this point that my head got completely out of the tournament and I started to think that it wasn't meant for me to win this one. For about 20 min, I gave up all hope until Tieds got pushed around in a hand by Pete and went all in on his button for 2100. I had 3600 left and had Q10d in the BB. I felt like he was on a steal, and I needed chips too at this point, so I decided to gamble. He flipped over 5 7 and I hit a 10 on the flop to get some much needed chips back in my stack.

From here I was kind of unstoppable hitting hand after hand. I eliminated Simpson with AK when he had QJ, and even took out Pete with 108h when he had 2 undercards. Finally it was heads up with me and DGlove. With the table full of railbirds and the blinds at 400/800, the following hand came up.

I had 64o and was first to act on the flop. Flop came 10 6 3. I bet 2000 and Dennis called after a while. (Each move Dennis makes is very deliberate, and thus can take a long time to complete.) The turn hit a 7, and I had a big decision to make here. Now, 2 times before this, Dennis and I had gotten to the turn and I had checked and he went all in after I led out on the flop. I felt like he might do this to me again, and the only way I was going to win this pot was if I countered his bluff with a semi-bluff of my own. So I went all in on the turn before he could go, and just waited. He eventually folded.

On the button I raised to 3K. Dennis re-raised me another 4K. I thought about how to play this hand, and decided to go all in right there. I had Dennis covered so I knew I'd see another hand if this one didn't hold up. He called and said "YES!" when I flipped over A6 and I felt like I was dominated. But he had 22, so let's race!!! I ended up catching a 6 on the turn, and winning the tournament! My first win of SPT Season 2 and it was the biggest game of the year so far, putting me in 4th place if my calculations are right. After getting into the money on Thursday and a win on Saturday, it renewed my confidence in my playing, and I look forward to hopefully participating in the Championship table. I will post later about Hall's rebuy tourney and my lack of appreciation of it. Later. Thanks for reading.

Long Time, No See

Well, it's been a month since the last posting, and a lot has happened. Went to see Hairspray in New York over the holidays in a fun gathering of family, then went out to the S T L to see Karen with high hopes of maybe meeting Nelly and/or Chingy. Alas, it was not meant to be and I ended up hanging out with Rockettes and was dubious of a really good time.

Another girl's boyfriend was there, Dave, and he liked to play cards too, so we decided on our down time (i.e. they were at their show) we would search St. Louis for their casinos. First up was Harrah's, and I have to say I was dissappointed. It was basically a smaller Foxwoods and the whole "casino inside a shopping mall" vibe was ever present. You walk in and there's 2 entrances, with a players club booth right in the middle. We tried to get in and were instructed to go to the booth, because every player needs a card for admission. While waiting on line we read the pamphlet about Missouri gaming commissions, and found that you can only buy in for $500 every 2 hours. Since everyone needs a card it just tracks how much you're in for and will not give you chips until the window is up. What I found interesting was that they were running a 5/10 NL game in the poker room and people had mountains of chips, clearly more than $500 so people must be bringing chips home with them.

As for the casino itself, I found it to be very small and a TON of slots with not many table games to speak of. The poker room was also very small and had maybe 12 tables. I guess I'm spoiled. Anyway, we only had a little bit of time to play and make it back (the casino was 9.3 miles away from our room, almost too good to be true) so we put our names on 3/6, yeah i'm a pussy, and waited to be called. It took a while and I met another guy on the rail who had told us about the Ameristar Casino that was much nicer that had Bad Beat Jackpots and High Hand Jackpots, they also had more tables. I put in a quick 45 minute session and lost $3.

The next day, the girls had 2 shows, so we decided to make it an all day affair at the Ameristar, which was 1.4 miles futhur than Harrah's. Now, I didn't think it would be nicer off the bat, because it sounded like a casino from the makers of a generic form of soda from Costco. But sure enough it was nicer, albeit just like the atmosphere of Foxwoods too, but overall, nicer. I played 3/6 there for about 6 hours and ended up making $145. *Memorable hand* This backwoods-ish guy with a trucker hat and stringy hair and possibly 8 teeth sat down and was your stereotypical raise every hand guy. He won a fair amount of pots as people at this limit do, but I called his preflop raise with 72o in the BB, and he as 2 to my right. Flop came T72 rainbow and I checked, the guy next to me checked and raiser fired $3. I called and the player to the left called. Turn came a J and I fired out $6, got raised, and 3 bet by the original raiser, I capped it and everyone called. River came a 4, I bet out $6 got raised, got called, I 3 bet it and they both called. I showed my 2 pair and the original raiser showed me KJs and the middle player had AJc. Nice $154 pot.

Flew home on the 1st and spent some days relaxing with Karen. Hall's season then had their freeroll, and they were nice enough to wait for me to come home before they had it. Top 10 people played and Top 3 paid out. I honestly don't remember any key hands except that Maltese almost got eliminated and the river card doubled him up and he went on to be chip leader about 4 hands later. I was severe short stacked (nothing new, and more on this later), and for some reason, 5 handed the 2 big stacks of Erod and someone else decided to get into it on a hand with Casey joining them. Casey took out both players, and somehow, I found my way into the money. I was eliminated soon after and took $50 for not much work really. Casey ended up winning the prize, with Maltese after him. Congrats to both.

There were a few weeks off from Eddie's game which just started last week again. He upped the buy-in to $30 and the chips from 2300 to 3000. He also just has one game a night now instead of 2. Last week, I finished on the bubble, and at Ditty's game I finished on the bubble again. Last night at Eddie's out of 20 i was the 6th person out. Here's how a key hand went down:

Blinds 25/50, I limped in with 78h. 4 others did too including Eddie, right to my left. BB raises it another 100, and everyone calls. With 600 in the pot the flop comes T96 with 2 clubs. What a flop! BB checks, middle position bets 100 and I raise to 650. Eddie smooth calls and everyone else folds. Turn comes a 4s and I bet 750 and Eddie calls. River comes the dreaded 2c and I check and Eddie bets 700 into a pot of 3400. It was a damn good value bet and a hell of a suck out when Eddie flipped over 57c. I felt terrible after this hand, and it seemed to be representative of the way cards have been going for me lately. I always have a good attitude going in, and then something happens and it's over.

Now, looking back, the turn bet was too weak by me, i bet a little less than 1/3 of the pot, and without knowing it, Eddie picked up 6 extra outs on the turn with an open ended straight draw. So, as much as I hate going all in during the first level, I guess I had to do it on the turn to shut out all the draws. This was my mistake and it cost me everything. I was able to double up with 6's when the BB called me with K 10. But after that I got anted to death and went all in with A10s and got 2 callers. Flop came 46Q and one guy bet 500, the other folded, he flipped over 35o, wow I was ahead! Turn came a 5...doh...river came a 7...doh doh! And again, another night of poor play. I went home and indulged in another terrible episode of Alias and impossible to get away from, yet addicting MTV reality shows, then cried myself to sleep*

* not really true